Christian hein



(No Model.)

O. HEIN.

WAGON TONGUB SUPPORT.

Patented Novy24. 1885.

Wwsses:

W. 2/2 dz? linii-'tran Sra'rns lfa'rnnr rrrcn,

CHRISTIAN HEIN, OF MCKOW'NVILLE, NEWV YORK.

WAGON-TNGUE SUPPORT.

.IPBCIEICATIQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 331,235, dated November 2%r 1885.

Application filed September 24, 1885. Serial No. 178,025. (No modeL) To aZZ whom it may concern.:

Be it known that I, OHRIsrIAN HEIN, of McKownville, in the county of Alba-ny and State ofNew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vagon-Tongue Supports, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a support that will act with equal power upon the tongue in any divergence from the central position which the tongue is likely to be thrown into, and to maintain the outer end of the tongue at a uniform height through any of said divergencies. This object I attain by means of the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, and in which- Figure lis a plan view of parts of the tongue, whiffletree, front a-Xle, and reach of a wagon provided with my improvement; Fig. 2, a side elevation of the same; Fig. 3, an enlarged plan view of the fifth-wheel brace with the link and part of tongue-supporting spring connected thereto, and Fig. 4 a longitudinal section of the fifth-wheel.

As shown in the drawings, A is the front aXle, and Bthe aXle-bed for same, fiXed thereto in the usual manner; O, the fifth-wheel, which consists of a lower circle, c, and an overlapping upper circle, c', as shown in Fig. 4. The lower circle, c, is secured to the upper surface of the aXle-bed B, so as to be concentric to the king-bolt D, and is supported by means of the braces c2,which pass beneath the axle A. The overlapping upper cirole, c', is provided with a pendent annular flange, 03, which shuts over the outer circumference of the lower cirole, c, in such manner that the fifth-wheel O will receive all the strain of the horses in pulling or hacking, and thereby that strain on-thc king-bolt D is avoided. rThe upper circle, c', is secured to the under side of the head-block E and to the under side of the reach F. The front wagon-spring, G, (of which only a small portion of the lower part is shown in the drawings,) is secured by clips g to the upper edge of the head-block E. Said clips are provided with clip-bars g', of the usual form. A four'armed brace-piece, H, is centrally fiXed on the upper face of the lower part of the wagon-spring G, and has an annular collar, h, through which the king-bolt D passcs. The foremost arm, h', of said bracepiece is bent downward to engage with the foremost part of the upper circle, c'., and is securcd thereto by means of abolt or rivet, which finishes flush with the lower face of said circle. The rearmost arin, hz, is bent downward to meet the upper face of the reach F, to which it is secured by means of bolts or rivets. The foremost one of said bolts passes through the rearmost part of the upper circle, o', the head of said foremost bolt finishing flush with the under face of said circle, so as to present no obstruction to the free circular movement of said circle. The lateral arms h3 extend perpcndicularly from the center line of the arms h' and hz, and their extremities, as shown in I Fig. 3, are expanded into thin flat fianges If, which pass under and are securely held by the clip-bars g' of the clips g. By means of the brace-piece G the strain of the weight of the tongue is thrown in a direct line on the reach F.

The pole or tongue I is connected to the front axle, A, in the usual manner, and is provided with a whiffletree, J, of 'the usual form. Said whiffletree is pivoted to the pole I by means of the bolt j, to which I preferably attach the hook i, to which one end of my tongue-supporting device is connected; but, when preferred, said hook may be attached directly to any convenient point on the pole I.

My tongue-supporting device consists of the following parts: a link, K, which has an eye, k, that fits over the collar h of the brace-piece I-I in such manner that the link K will swing in a horizontal plane in both directions from a central line until said link is brought into contact with one or the other of the clip-bars g', which movement I find will usually give ample latitude of action for turning all ordinary curves with a wagon. At the opposite end of the link another eye, k', is formed for receiving one of the hooks Z,which are formed at opposite ends of the spiral spring L, which forms au elastic medium for supporting the weight of the tongue. The opposte hook Z engages in a turn-buckle, M, the screw-bolt m of which is provided with an eye, W, that engages with the hook i, and thereby completes the connection of the tongue-support between the pole I and collar h. By means of the turn-buckle M the length of the supporting device can be adjusted so that the spring L IOO will sustain the outer end of the pole I at any required height.

It Will be seen that by means of the link K provision is made for permitting the tongue to swing sidewise in either direotion, the eye k of said link allowing of any ordinary movement of the tongue; but When this point is exoeeded the flexible joint formed by the eye k' and the hook Z of the spring yields to ao oomnnodate the extraordinary movement.

While I have shown and described my supporting device as applied to a pole or tongue, it must be fully understood that it is fully adapted, Without further invention, to use on the thills of a one-horse wagon.

I olaim as my invention- The combination, with the link K, having a ,pivotal center that coincides with the kingbolt D, of the spiral spring L, turn-buokle M,

and the hook ',attaohed to the pole I, all being zo oonstruoted and connected to operate as and for the purpose speoified.

OHRISTIAN HEIN. Witnesses:

J. L. HEIN, WM. H. Low. 

